Free Eve of Destruction by C.E. Stalbaum Page B

Danev.”
    Zach turned from the paintings. “She was murdered.”
    “ Murdered ?” Danev stammered. A lump formed in his throat, and his stomach suddenly twisted into knots. “When was this?”
    “Just over a week ago,” she told him softly. “A group of Dusties broke into the house and shot her. That’s what it looked like, anyway.”
    “Goddess be merciful,” he breathed. “I am so very sorry, my dear.”
    Danev was a glib man when he needed to be, but he’d long ago learned that sometimes the best thing to say was nothing. Words wouldn’t bring her consolation, so he let the silence linger for a minute while he leaned back in his chair and tried to work through it for himself.
    “I never met your father, but your mother was a good friend.,” he said wistfully. “I’ve always regretted losing touch with her. You’re a spitting image of her back in the day.”
    Eve nodded solemnly. He could tell she was doing her best to steel herself, and she was doing a commendable job for someone so young and obviously inexperienced at dealing with loss. But Danev was neither, and to him the tension in her face, hands, and even voice was obvious. She was barely keeping it together.
    Zach placed a comforting hand on her shoulder then looked up to Danev. “The killers stole one of her books from the house, but they didn’t touch anything else. We were hoping you might know why.”
    “Books? You mean spellbooks?” Danev asked, the hairs on the back of his neck abruptly standing up. No, that wasn’t what they were talking about and he knew it.
    “Her journal,” Eve said. “The one where she wrote down her dreams.”
    Danev nodded and did his best to keep his expression cool. That journal, the one that might have held more dangerous secrets than every presidential safe box combined…
    He licked at his lips and suddenly found them parched. “Not to belabor the point, but why ask me?”
    Eve took a deep breath. “Because she left me a note, Mr. Danev. She never delivered it, but I found it in her room. It said that if something happened to her, I needed to find you and give you her journal. She said you would know what to do with it.”
    Danev sunk deeper into his chair as the stream of old memories washed over him. Tara had only been eighteen when they first met, but even then the instructors at Valmeri believed she was special. Some went even farther than that…
    He’d been skeptical at first just like all of their friends. But after a few years with her all those doubts had been neatly swept away.
    Then everything had changed. And judging by the look on Eve’s face, she had no idea how. Her mother must never have told her, which probably shouldn’t have surprised him. He knew how much Tara had regretted some of the decisions she’d made back then. If he’d ever had children of his own, he probably wouldn’t have told them about all the things he’d done back then, either.
    But if Tara was dead and her journal had been taken…well, then maybe it was time to break that silence. Unfortunately, it meant her daughter’s life was about to get a lot more complicated.
    “We need to talk, but not here,” Danev said. “Please, come on upstairs with me.”
     
    ***
     
    Danev’s business was as fascinating as it was sleazy, Amaya Soroshi thought to herself as she settled into her “pampering room.” She’d been able to select from a wide range of options and décor in her personal suite, but she’d tried to keep it as tame and in-character as possible. Her cover was simple but passable: a Talami businesswoman on an overseas expedition to meet some of the up-and-coming new Industrialists. It had worked well enough so far, but she was still annoyed the ruse was necessary at all.
    Their assassins on the train had failed. She never received a wire from them at Olastown, which probably meant they were dead. She wondered idly if DeShane’s mysterious protector had struck again, or if perhaps the young girl had